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Finally Yours
When the Adoption Is Final By Jessica Gold
For New Yorker Suzan Cavanaugh, the finalization day was especially poignant. Her son, Hunter, arrived home from Korea in 2004, and Cavanaugh had to wait nine months for finalization. During that time, travel was her biggest concern. "We had to get permission to leave the state, since we were only his legal guardians," she says.
Hunter was finalized on a special court date. Right before the holiday season, the courts usually appoint one day as "Adoption Friday," where they try to finalize as many families as possible as a "gift for the holidays." The Cavanaugh family was a part of this great event, which captured the attention of many newspapers and television stations.
Another New Yorker, Reese Valmont*, experienced a different sort of worry with her son, Brian, also from Korea. Brian had minor medical issues, which required surgical procedures to correct his cleft palate and lip. "My main concern before finalizing our adoption was dealing with medical personnel before being the legal guardian of our son," says Valmont. "Because he needed surgery before finalization, we had to get a letter stating that we had permission to make all medical decisions. In the end, nobody even looked at the letter and assumed we already did have permission, but it was an issue that bothered me, and it is a relief to have both the finalization and the medical procedures behind us."
Kristyn Migliori of California says in the back of her mind she worried about "a paperwork glitch," but her two children kept her so busy the thought was strictly a back-of-the-mind thing. Migliori may have headed off some of the anxiety by being proactive about finalization. "We didn't use an attorney and did all the paperwork ourselves with the help of Holt and our courthouse," she says. "The judge was actually a family friend, so it made things a little less stressful and more personal."
Migliori included friends and family in a big celebration afterward. "For our first adoption, only grandparents were invited," she says. "It was very emotional for both my husband and me. Ben, our son, was all over the judge's chambers. He had no idea what was going on. It was a wonderful feeling when everything was over. We had an open house that evening for about three hours and invited coworkers, neighbors, friends, etc. It was nice to allow people to come over and not have the formality of a party. Some people popped in to say hello and congratulations; others stayed for an hour or so."